Jabari Banks (born August 2, 1998) is a 25-year-old African American actor and musician from the United States. Banks became the biggest breakout star of 2022 after it was announced that he would play the titular character in the modern reboot of the popular nineties show, ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.’
The Philadelphia-born actor’s work has been positively critiqued as drama lovers have likened him to fellow West Philadelphia actor Will Smith whose role in the first installment, Jabari’s character is reminiscent of. Learn more of all there is to know about Jabari Banks’s age and where he is from.
Summary of Jabari Banks’ Bio
- Age: 25 Years Old
- Birth Date: August 1, 1998
- Birth Place: West Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
- Birth Sign: Leo
- Ethnicity: African-American and Jamaican
- Father: Maurice Banks
- Mother: Jennifer Banks
- Siblings: Jasmine, Jada, and Jordan Banks
What Is Jabari Banks’s Age Now?
Jabari Banks was born on August 1, 1998, in West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States of America. He is presently 25 years old and has the Leo zodiac sign.
As mentioned, Jabari is an actor and has been professionally trained for television. He attended the Riverdale Baptist School in Philadelphia before moving to West Philly University, where he studied Arts.
According to Jabari, he was an extremely talented basketball player and had planned to take up the sport as a professional career. However, his low academic grades prevented him from obtaining the much-needed college scholarship, and he decided to take acting classes instead.
Jabari Banks soon fell in love with drama and the stage and decided to take more interest in acting. It is obvious how well his choice turned out because Jabari Banks has made some pretty big moves in his still-growing acting career. The actor made his acting debut at the age of 23 when he was cast to play Will in the 2022 reboot of the iconic drama series, ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.’
He began auditions in 2020 when everywhere was still shut down over the pandemic, and the actor recalled how he had to show up for auditions at 5 in the morning, memorizing vast amounts of his lines, as well as learn the art of acting for the camera, all at once. After several auditions with Morgan Cooper, the show’s director, Jabari was finally selected as the lead choice.
The decision was broken to him in a Zoom meeting with none other than Will Smith himself. As the new Prince of Bel-Air, Jabari approaches the show from the perspective of a young Gen Z, trying to navigate life in 2022. The show airs on the Peacock network, and a second season is slated to return in 2023.
Now 25 years old, Jabari is not as green as he was when he first filmed season one of The Fresh Prince. He is expected to appear in other productions very soon, but for now, let’s rejoice that there is a new Fresh Prince who is just as fashionable and musically talented as the previous one.
He has also said that he was open to more television roles, especially in action movies, and cited actors like the late Chadwick Boseman and Denzel Washington as sources of his inspiration.
Jabari Banks’ Ethnicity and Nationality
Jabari was born in the United States and has lived there all his life, so he is fully American. He has African-American and Jamaican ethnicity from his father and mother, respectively. However, if we are to judge from his personality and carriage, Jabari tends to lean more towards the Black American culture than Jamaican.
This might have everything to do with the fact that he was schooled in Pennsylvania, which is made up of predominantly Black Americans, and also went to an American college instead of a Jamaican one. The new Fresh Prince does not seem to flow much with his mother’s culture, but that might not be a problem as Jabari is still pretty young and has a lot of time to fine-tune his life influences.
Where Is Jabari Banks From?
Jabari Banks is a native of West Philadelphia. West Philadelphia, often called West Philly by natives, is located in Philadelphia city, Pennsylvania. The town is believed to share borders with the Schuylkill River, City Avenue, Cobbs Creek, and the SEPTA Media/Wawa Line.
With an estimated population of over 216,000 people, seventy-six percent of whom are Black American, Philadelphia is also one of the most racially diverse cities in America, as its demographic is made up of East Asians, Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Afro-Caribbeans, and African immigrants.
Who Are Jabari Banks’ Parents?
Jabari Banks was born to an African-American father named Maurice Banks and a Jamaican mother called Jennifer. Although the actor isn’t shy to speak glowingly of his parents, neither of them is known in Hollywood or public circles in general.
There is no information on when his parents were born, how they met, what they do for a living, or how long they have both been married. However, they are movie lovers, as their son recollects that his parents had the DVD box set of ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.’
Notwithstanding the dearth of information on Maurice and Jennifer Banks, their son remembers the important things. Details such as the fact that Maurice Banks encouraged his son not to give half-energy in his movie career.
Or the fact that it was his mother who advised him to take up acting after he realized that basketball was a pipe dream. No matter what, there is no doubt that Jabari’s parents are the biggest cheerleaders of his career and have been his motivation right from the start of it all.
Meet Jabari Banks’ Father
Jabari Banks’ father is named Maurice Banks. He is an African-American native of Pennsylvania. There isn’t much known about Maurice’s age, net worth, and career. Like many parents of Hollywood celebrities, he prefers to stay out of the limelight and rather encourage his son from the sidelines.
Maurice is married to a woman named Jennifer, and it’s believed that they have been together for over two decades. In addition to being Jabari’s father, he has three other children whose names all begin with the letter J.
Who Is Jabari Banks’ Mother?
Jabari Banks’ mother is Jennifer Banks. She is best known as the supportive mother of the television star who encouraged him to try acting when it seemed like he would give up on life entirely. Like her husband, there is very little known about Jennifer’s background, save that she is Jamaican. She is the mother of Jabari and his three siblings.
Who Are Jabari Banks’ Siblings?
Jabari Banks has three siblings—two sisters and one brother. His sisters are Jada and Jasmine, while his brother is Jordan Banks. Jordan is Jabari’s younger brother. There hasn’t been much information on their dates of birth. However, Jabari is the most famous sibling at the moment. Time will reveal whether any more famous persons will emerge from the Banks family in the nearest future.
